.38 Spl. in a Rossi 92?

[Washita]

Anybody shoot .38 Spl.in a Rossi 92 .357 Mag? I have one on order, and would like to use it in PC silhouettes out to 100 Meters (1/2 scale rams) with 5.1 gr. of 231 behind a 125-gr. hard cast LFN bullet. But don't know how well .38's work in a Rossi. This load ran well in a Taylor '73 I once had for CAS, but I know the rifle and requirements for PC silh. are a lot different. All advice welcome!

Note: 100 meters max.

[deadeye dave]

Hi Washita,

I run a rossi 92 in 357/38 as my spare pistol cartridge rifle and have no problems at all with the 38 case loading etc. I run a 158 gn cast lead projectile and all feeds smoothly.

[Washita]

Thanks, Deadeye. Appreciate the info!

[RBriscoe]

Washita,

I have a slightly different perspective on the use of .38 Special cartridges in a .357 Mag chamber. I see no particular reason to do so because the bullet has to jump the extra distance to the rifling (roughly 1/8 inch) which does not improve accuracy (it may or may not hurt accuracy, but it does not improve accuracy). You also tend to get a build up of "junk" in the portion of the chamber that is usually occupied by the .357 Mag case when using a .38 Special case.

What we used to do when .357 Mag was a common Hunter's Pistol cartridge was to simply load a .38 Special or .38 Special +P load in a .357 Mag case. It worked well. If you are loading your own ammo you might consider trying this. As compared to a .38 Special load in a .38 Special case you might have to use a tenth of a grain or so more powder in the .357 Mag case to get the same velocity, but I would be surprised if it made a huge difference.

Anyway, I though I would just toss this out for your consideration.

Cheers,

Rick

[Washita]

Thanks for the input, Rick. I suspect you're right about using .357 cases instead of .38's, and I'm going to start there. My new Rossi is out for a trigger job, should have it back in a week or so. In the meantime, I've loaded up a small qty. (50 each) of .357 ammo using 7.0 gr. of Unique behind a 125-gr LFN, and 6.0 gr. Unique with 158 gr. LSWC with standard, not Magnum primers. I picked these loads based partly on components I had already, and this seems like as good a starting point as any.

One other question, for everybody: Have you tried copper-plated bullets in .357 rifles? I've never used them in rifles or handguns, but wonder how their performance compares to cast and jacketed bullets.

[44 mag]

I switched to the ranier copper platted bullet in the 32-20 because they were available.To my suprise they shot as well if not better than the hornady.The difference i saw was you couldnt crimp them as tite.

[Washita]

Thanks for the info, 44. These are exactly the ones I was considering. I think I'll get some next time I place an order, depending on how well my rifle does with cast bullets. I'll get it back in soon & will try them (125 & 158-gr cast bullets) when I do.